Smith Moore & CO. lifted its position in shares of Exelon Co. by 33.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.
The firm owned 12,638 shares of the energy giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,186 shares during the quarter. Smith Moore & CO.’s holdings in Exelon were worth $498,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co. acquired a new position in shares of Exelon during the third quarter worth about $102,000. NuWave Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Exelon during the fourth quarter worth about $105,000.
Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Exelon during the fourth quarter worth about $118,000. Cerebellum GP LLC acquired a new position in shares of Exelon during the fourth quarter worth about $122,000. Finally, Trustcore Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Exelon during the fourth quarter worth about $142,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.47% of the company’s stock.
Shares of Exelon Co. opened at $37.17 on Wednesday. Exelon Co. has a fifty-two week low of $33.30 and a fifty-two week high of $42.67. The stock has a market cap of $36,362.30, a PE ratio of 9.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 0.94.
Exelon last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The energy giant reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.60 by ($0.05). Exelon had a net margin of 11.53% and a return on equity of 8.35%. The business had revenue of $8.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.66 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.44 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. equities research analysts expect that Exelon Co. will post 3.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 15th will be issued a $0.345 dividend. This represents a $1.38 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 14th. This is an increase from Exelon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. Exelon’s dividend payout ratio is 34.94%.
EXC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. SunTrust Banks set a $42.00 price target on shares of Exelon and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of Exelon from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $42.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Exelon in a research report on Friday, February 2nd.
They set a “buy” rating and a $44.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “buy” rating and set a $43.00 target price on shares of Exelon in a research report on Tuesday, November 7th.
Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Exelon from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Exelon has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $40.91.
In other Exelon news, EVP Paymon Aliabadi sold 13,334 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.62, for a total value of $541,627.08. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 26,435 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,073,789.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
